Richard Brooks

While he shares his name with the late Oscar-winning screenwriter-director and a respected cinematographer, actor Richard Brooks has carved his own niche in show business. The handsome, African-Americ...
Read More...

Actor Chris Noth celebrated his 60th birthday by throwing a party in New York City for his friends and former co-stars. The Good Wife star reached the milestone on 13 November (14) and marked the occasion with a boys' night out in Manhattan on Saturday (15Nov14).
Noth partied at the Leonora nightclub with his former Sex and The City co-star John Corbett, who played his character's onscreen love rival in the hit TV show, as well as former Law & Order castmembers Dann Florek and Richard Brooks.
A source tells New York Post gossip column Page Six, "The music he played was an eclectic, hip selection of rock. His friends were drinking top-shelf whiskey, and Chris was dancing about, greeting all his guests."

Mel Brooks, Molly Ringwald and Richard Dreyfuss were among the stars who turned out to pay tribute to director Paul Mazursky at a memorial service in California on Friday (05Sep14). The Oscar-nominated moviemaker passed away on 30 June (14), aged 84, after suffering a cardiac arrest, and his friends, family and former colleagues gathered at the Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills, California on Friday to pay their last respects.
The memorial service was attended by famous faces including Nick Nolte, Ed Begley, Jr. and Elliott Gould, while a number of celebrity guests also gave tributes to the late director.
Speakers included actors George Segal, Michael Greene and Molly Ringwald, who called Mazursky the "best director I ever worked with," before singing I'll Be Seeing You, accompanied by her father Bob on piano.
Jaws star Richard Dreyfuss, who starred in three Mazursky films, explained how he idolised the filmmaker, saying, "When I was around Paul, I wanted to be Paul. And I like being Richard. But I wanted to be Paul."
Mel Brooks took to the stage last and used his tribute to compare Mazursky to legendary directors including Federico Fellini and Vittorio De Sica, telling the audience, "In my assessment, he was our Fellini, our De Sica. The best capturer of human behaviour on film was Paul."
The service ended with a montage of film clips and a performance by singer/actress Ellen Greene, who gave a rendition of Goodbye, My Friend.

Singer-turned-actress Billie Piper won over theatre reviewers with her turn in topical new play Great Britain on Monday (30Jun14), with critics describing the phone hacking satire as "blessedly funny" and "bluntly entertaining". The comedy drama, by playwright Richard Bean, is based on real life British scandals including the phone-hacking trial and the controversy surrounding politicians' expenses, and it was rehearsed in secret before its opening at London's National Theatre.
The opening night came a week after the phone-hacking trial verdicts caused a sensation in the U.K., and the topical subject matter was a hit with the critics.
Reviewers were also full of praise for Piper's performance as loathsome social-climbing news editor Paige Britain, with Dominic Cavendish, of U.K. newspaper The Daily Telegraph, calling her turn "convincingly shallow and ruthless" and adding of the play, "(It is) a vitriolic, bluntly entertaining comedy that initially has the audience tickled pink with its levity, then finally blushing red with national shame."
Michael Billington, in a four-out-of-five star review in Britain's The Guardian, also compliments Piper on doing "an excellent job" and hails Great Britain as "blessedly funny", writing, "It has the bracing quality of topicality and is written with real verve... I mean it as a compliment when I say his play has a tabloid energy and bravura."
The Hollywood Reporter's Stephen Dalton agrees, writing, "(The play) puts an agreeably lurid and highly amusing slant on current events," but the Daily Mail's Quentin Letts notes in a three-out-of-five critique, "The heaviness of the humour obscures much of the seriousness... The play is a bit of a mess in places."
Britain's phone-hacking trial ended last week (ends29Jun14) with former News of the World boss Rebekah Brooks acquitted on all charges. Andy Coulson, another ex-editor of the now-defunct tabloid, was found guilty on a charge of conspiracy to intercept communications and is due to face a retrial on corruption charges alongside the publication's former royal editor Clive Goodman.
Great Britain runs at the National Theatre until 23 August (14).

An associate of rapper Waka Flocka Flame has been found guilty of three counts of murder. The verdict for aspiring hip-hop star Ra Diggs, real name Ronald Herron, was revealed in Federal District Court in Brooklyn, New York on Thursday (26Jun14). He was found guilty on all 21 counts he faced, including racketeering and drug trafficking, as well as the killing of Frederick Brooks in 2001, Richard Russo in 2008, and Victor Zapata in 2009, according to the New York Times.
Herron, 32, has been behind bars for two years on federal charges for running a crack and heroin ring.
His case was an unusual one as prosecutors used the rap videos he posted on YouTube.com as evidence against him during the trial.
Herron's lyrics boast he was a high-ranking member of the Bloods gang who beat a murder case, as well as bragging about getting even with his rivals.
Herron will be sentenced on 1 October (14), and faces life in prison.

Memento Films
The films have all premiered, the awards have been handed out, and the yachts are headed back home: the Cannes Film Festival has officially come to an end, which means even those of us lucky enough to spend two weeks on the French Riviera must now head for less-idyllic shores. But just because the festival has wrapped up, that doesn't mean there aren't a few films left to catch up on, and so we've rounded up the last of Cannes' biggest and buzziest films, including the winner of the Palme d'Or, a gang movie told entirely in Ukranian sign language and Kristen Stewart's best-reviewed film role yet.
Winter Sleep This year's Palme d'Or winner was also the longest film in competition, with a runtime of just over three hours. However, its epic length didn't deter judges from heaping praise on the film, which follows retired actor and hotel owner Mr. Aydin (Haluk Biginer) as he deals with the dissolution of his marriage to Nihal (Melisa Sozen). As the slow winter season arrives, the relationship between Aydin and Nihal becomes more and more fractured as she attempts to get him to face up to the issues that have made so many people turn against him. Winter Sleep is director Nuri Bilge Ceylan's fourth win at Cannes — he has won the second place award twice, in 2002 and 2011, and took home a directing award in 2008.
"Given that the title virtually encourages viewers to nap during the proceedings, Winter Sleep is no chore to sit through. Most of its characters are complex and compelling, and the actors’ faces, craggy or lustrous, reward fascinated study. The movie indulges one frustrating narrative trope in too many Cannes contenders: the unexplained disappearance of a major figure more than halfway through the story [...]. But as austere soap opera or probing character study, Winter Sleep validates the viewer’s attention, if not its nearly 200-min. running time — make that ambling time." - Richard Corliss, TIME
"That said, the performances are strong (bar a scene between Aydin and Nihal in which Bilginer suddenly plays Aydin as so one-note patronizing and condescending toward his young wife that we just wanted to punch him) and Ceylan’s and DP Gokhan Tiryaki's way with composition and cinematography is in evidence even in the interior scenes (which are most of them), lighting faces warmly and designing shots richly, which needs to happen when almost everything takes place in shot-reverse-shot, he-says-then-she-says format. But the unpleasantness of being constantly trapped in the middle of conversations of increasing resentment and bitterness starts to take its toll less than halfway through this marathon-length film as we start to realize that just as the characters all seem defined by the overweening desire to have the last word in every discussion [...], it’s a foible of Ceylan’s too." - Jessica Kiang, The Playlist
Mommy Helmed by 25-year-old Xavier Dolan, Mommy is set in the distant future, where parents are forced to either care for their unstable children or send them to detention centers. Diane (Anne Dorval), is a single mother who is struggling to raise her violent son, Steve (Antoine Olivier Pilon) on her own. Diane eventually begins to receive help from their mysterious new neighbor, Kyla (Suzanne Clement), and together, the three of them form their own dysfunctional family. Dolan was awarded the jury prize at the festival, an award that he (the youngest director in competition) shared with Jean-Luc Godard (the oldest), for his film Goodbye to Language 3D.
"Dorval gives a force-of-nature performance as Diane “Die” Despres, a glamorously trashy middle-aged widow whose teenage son Steve suffers from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, bouncing off the walls as he struggles to contain his explosively violent temper. Pilon is great casting for Steve, charismatic and manipulative, volatile but vulnerable. [...] Diane and Steve are both flawed characters, neither victims nor villains. Their conversations are combative and prickly, full of salty slang and occasional physical contact, with teasing hints of incestuous intimacy that the script never fully explores. Unlike Dolan's typical protagonists, these are not bourgeois bohemian hipsters but damaged blue-collar outsiders, struggling yet ever hopeful, bursting with a vitality and vulgarity that give the film its raw humor." - Stephen Dalton, The Hollywood Reporter
"It's a needlessly complicated introduction that makes the film to come sound somewhat like science fiction; Die and Steve's household, however, is believably exceptional enough to render the mitigating circumstances unnecessary. Their sparring is engrossingly abrasive, but the film risks wearing itself (not to mention its audience) out within a mere quarter-hour. Dorval and Pilon, both remarkable, are cranked up to 11 from the get-go, while Dolan's chosen aspect ratio forces cinematographer Andre Turpin into a claustrophobically repetitive routine of alternating, invasive close-ups. It's bravura filmmaking, all right, but the center cannot hold." - Guy Lodge, HitFix
IFC Films
The Clouds of Sils MariaOliver Assayas' bilingual Hollywood drama stars Juliette Binoche as Maria Enders, an actress entering the twilight of her career, who has signed on to star in a revival of the play that made her famous about an ambitious young girl who drives an older woman to suicide. As she spends more and more time with the Hollywood starlet (Chloe Grace Moretz) taking over her old role, Maria's life begins to crumble, and she comes to rely on her loyal assistant and only friend Valentine (Kristen Stewart). The role forces Maria to confront the person she is and used to be and reconcile with her past and the impending pressures of time.
"Maria and Val love each other and live together, but their friendship has never been on an equal footing. Passing a cigarette back and forth, they proceed to rehearse the old play to the point where it highlights and defines the running tensions between them. Val, we come to realise, is the real Sigrid in this movie. Assayas is a supple, playful and confident director whose eclectic body of work has embraced mercurial satire (Irma Vep), period drama (Sentimental Destinies) and terrorist thrills (Carlos). [...] It's a study of the artistic elite from a fully paid-up member, a story that proves a little too tolerant of the preening peacocks at the summit and too glibly dismissive of the bottom-feeders (hacks, paps and internet trolls) down below." - Xan Brooks, The Guardian
"Assayas’ screenplay deftly celebrates the act of creation and neatly demonstrates that works of art, like people, can be viewed from different angles, their true meaning unknowable. The French filmmaker also neatly dovetails the relationship of Sigrid and Helena with that of Maria and Valentine: the pair are close, at times bordering on getting too close, and their power dynamic squirms and coils as the film develops - a Maloja Snake of its own." - Matt Risley, Total Film
Leviathan A modern re-telling of the Book of Job, Leviathan tackles the corruption of Vladimir Putin's government, and deals with "some of the most important social issues of contemporary Russia." The film centers on a family who is currently locked in a bitter dispute with its corrupt mayor over the waterfront property on which its house is built. But when the patriarch of the family calls in an old friend — who is now a big-shot lawyer — to help him, he may end up making things even more difficult for himself. Written and directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev, Leviathan received rave reviews and took home the festival's prize for Best Screenplay.
"In “Leviathan,” which director Andrey Zvyagintsev has described as a loose retelling of the Book of Job, an ordinary man must wrestle with his faith not in God but in the Russian state — an epic struggle against a monster with many faces possessed of the capacity to bend the law to suit its own appetites. Resistance is futile, as they say, and yet this stunning satire’s embattled patriarch valiantly perseveres for the sake of his family, even as it crumbles around him. Debuting in competition at Cannes, this engrossing, arthouse-bound opus spans a meaty 142 minutes and unfolds with the heft of a 1,000-page novel." - Peter Debruge, Variety
"The film is really about contemporary Russia, the corruption of the current regime, exemplified by Vadim, who has a portrait of Putin on his wall [...] and of the increasingly insidious influence of the Russian Orthodox Church on the nation's leaders. Given Putin's feelings on dissent, and the partial-funding of the movie by a state body, it's a brave move, and an incredibly vital one, giving the movie a savage, fiery quality to it that continues to sear long after it's finished. And yet, it's not just political point-scoring either. There's a rich lyricism and poetry to the picture that promises more and more to unpack with every viewing." - Oliver Lyttelton, IndieWire
The Tribe Featuring a cast of deaf-mute actors, The Tribe is a teen-gang film told entirely in Ukranian sign language. The film doesn't feature any subtitles or translations, relying entirely on sign language and imagery in order to tell the story of a group of teenagers at a boarding school for the deaf who are average students by day and gangsters and prostitutes by night. Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy's ambitious project took home the top Critic's Prize awarded at the festival, as well as the France 4 Visionary Award.
"There have been countless films over the years about teenage gangs, their rites, rituals and violent codes of ethics, but Ukrainian-made and set The Tribe must surely be the first one featuring a cast entirely composed of deaf sign-language users. [...] However, the use of sign language, deafness and silence itself adds several heady new ingredients to the base material, alchemically creating something rich, strange and very original. Add in Valentyn Vasyanovych's silky smooth steadicam cinematography, sexually explicit imagery, strong critical support, and winning the top prize and two more besides in Cannes' Critics' Week sidebar (including one to assist distribution in France), and you've got a reasonably exportable item for the specialist market that doesn't even need subtitles." - Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter
Follow @hollywood_com
//
Follow @julesemm
//

Lionsgate
Robin Williams is one of the funniest people on the planet. His dizzying rapid-fire delivery style and stream of consciousness rants have been wowing live audiences for nearly 40 years. He's found kindred spirits in fellow performers as diverse as Jonathan Winters, John Belushi, and Billy Crystal… delighting in their ability to play his comedic games at his own high level. Why is it, then, that Williams seems to have so much trouble being funny in movies? Go ahead and think about the last time that you really laughed hard at one of his films. It's okay, we'll wait.
Well, There Was That One…
The go-to answer for a lot of people is Mrs. Doubtfire, which was released 21 years ago and boasts as many melodramatic moments as it does comedic ones. The same is true for two of the actor's other '90s hits, Jumanji and The Birdcage. When Williams goes the straight comedy route in films like Old Dogs, RV, or Club Paradise, the result is never in line with his talent and abilities. The fact is that Williams' funniest cinematic role was probably one where we never actually saw him: as the Genie in Disney's Aladdin.
Flair for the Dramatic
With The Angriest Man in Brooklyn being released, in which Williams plays a bitter borough resident who finds out that he only has 90 minutes to live, the discrepancy is being reinforced once again. Williams is far better — and garners far more acclaim — when he's putting his Julliard training to use on the dramatic side. He notched Oscar nominations for his roles in The Fisher King, Good Morning, Vietnam and Dead Poets Society, and took home the award for Best Supporting Actor for Good Will Hunting. He's won acclaim for darker roles in projects like One Hour Photo and Insomnia, as well.
In many of his dramatic roles, Williams has a unique ability to add funny moments admidst the seriousness… like his D.J. patter in Good Morning, Vietnam. In actuality, that's what makes him appealing as a dramatic actor… his panache for showing a glimpse of Comedy while wearing Tragedy.
Calling Mork
Perhaps we're just being selfish in wishing that Williams would find a film role that would unleash his comedy id the way that Mork &amp; Mindy did during his early days on television, where it seemed as though he might in fact burst with energy.
He's not the only comedian that has had difficulty figuring out a way to channel a stage persona onto the big screen. Richard Pryor and George Carlin, two of the most influential stand-up comedians ever, both struggled to find roles that played to their strengths. Much like Williams, his idol Jonathan Winters slid between characters so quickly that a movie script was too confining.
From a comedy standpoint, Williams has always been at his best when he's free to go anywhere his muse takes him in a given moment and, with the exception of Aladdin, that's hard to capture in a film. Difficult as it may be, it's also not impossible. Two of Williams' contemporaries — Steve Martin and Bill Murray — have been able to shift between comedies and dramas effectively in their film careers.
It might be that he needs a filmmaker that isn't afraid of Williams and his scattershot approach to really showcase him properly in a movie. You get the feeling that Mel Brooks would've known what to do with Williams in his heyday, but there are still active directors like Todd Phillips and Seth MacFarlane that have proven to be unafraid of most anything.
It would just be a shame if future generations are strictly left with Williams' HBO concert specials to prove just how funny he can be.
Follow @Hollywood_com
//
Follow @LifeAsSitcom
//

Scarlett Johansson, Lena Dunham and Mark Ruffalo are among the stars who have signed a letter to New York City politicians urging them to protect arts programs in local schools. The actors have all added their names to a missive addressed to New York City Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina and Mayor Bill de Blasio, along with director Lee Daniels, playwright David Auburn, former Law & Order star Richard Brooks, and Broadway veteran Danny Burstein.
The letter asks the politicians to set aside funding for arts programs in New York City schools in a bid to protect them from cuts, highlighting the importance of drama, dance and music classes for youngsters.
It reads, "We write today to... urge that the Department of Education set aside the necessary funding in the City budget to ensure that every New York City public school has a certified arts teacher and rich cultural partnerships, as part of a comprehensive curriculum.
"As professional artists and performers, we all remember the first person who opened our eyes to the magic and wonder of the arts... The arts not only build texture and depth into the City's landscape, they also help us connect to others in unique and powerful ways, and push us to grow.. We urge the Department of Education to ensure that every public school student has the chance to engage in a vibrant arts education. Let's make sure that New York City is home to tomorrow's great artists, just as it is today."

Veteran filmmaker Mel Brooks feared his outrageous 1974 movie Blazing Saddles would drive him into hiding - because of the use of the N-word and his irreverent humour. The Young Frankenstein director imagined filmgoers rioting in cinemas and ripping down posters and screens as they watched the now-cult comedy about a racist western town's black sheriff, played by Cleavon Little.
But instead, the film became an instant hit. Celebrating the 40th anniversary release of the film on Blu-Ray, Brooks tells EW.com, "I envisioned a race riot. I thought everybody would come after me and kill me for what I said about the Chinese, and the blacks, and the Jews. "I thought if this was shown in Waco, Texas, the whites would storm the screen and cut it to ribbons. Because we were kind of hoisting the black sheriff up on our shoulders and made him a hero. But Texas liked it as much as New York."
But Brooks admits he did struggle with the use of the N-word in the film and turned to co-writer Richard Pryor to make sure he wasn't going too far: "Every time I said to Richard, 'Can I use the N-word here?' he said, 'Yes'. I said, 'Richard, it's a little dangerous here'. He said, 'Yes'."
The director insists the film could not be made today, adding, "It could hardly be made then. Certainly not 10 years before then. And now it's suddenly, it's 40 years later, it cannot be made today. That's weird. The prejudices or whatever, the restrictions, should have thoroughly diluted by now, and here we are - it's amazing. We're playing it safe. "I don't think the individual person is playing it safe, but I think the organisations - let's call them television networks or studios - they're playing it safe. They don't want to get sued. They don't want to lose the Latino endorsement or the black endorsement or the Jewish endorsement."

FOX
Plenty of actors have lent their voices to prime time animated series like The Simpsons or movies like The Croods and Toy Story. But it’s hard to imagine Saturday Morning Cartoons with huge stars. A lot of people are shocked to find out that the original voice of Shredder on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star James Avery, or to recall which Star Wars veteran was behind The Joker. Perhaps you weren't aware of the big names behind some of these childhood favorites...
Captain Planet and the Planeteers
A group of teenagers use magic rings to harness the elements and to summon Captain Planet, an environmental superhero. Each episode, they battle villains trying to pollute the environment. Whoopi Goldberg voices Gaia, the spirit of the Earth and their boss. What a lot of children at the time didn’t realize is the show’s villains are all played by major celebrities. Meg Ryan is Dr. Blight, a disfigured doctor who works with a sarcastic British computer. Jeff Goldblum plays Verminous Skumm, a mutated rat creature with a fondness for toxic waste. Sting even appears on the show as the creatively named Zarm. Other villains are played by Hollywood veterans Martin Sheen, James Coburn, Malcolm McDowell, and Ed Asner. Major celebs also stop by for guest appearances including Danny Glover, Louis Gossett Jr., and even Elizabeth Taylor.
Gargoyles
This Disney cartoon creates a mythology where stone gargoyles come to life when the sun sets. It also has a bizarre Star Trek connection. Star Trek: The Next Generation cast members Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis play series villains David Xanatos and Demona. There are also performance by other The Next Generation stars Michael Dorn, Brett Spiner, LeVar Burton, and Colm Meany. The captains of Deep Space Nine, Avery Brooks, and Voyager, Kate Mulgrew, appear on the cartoon. Nichelle Nichols even makes an appearance.
Batman: The Animated Series
Batman is probably the most star-studded cartoon in television history. The series features appearances by stars from the 1970s to today. 1970s icons like Adrienne Barbeau, Michael York, and Marilu Henner pop by the series. Bewitched actress Elizabeth McGovern plays her last role ever on the cartoon. Mark Hamill, a.k.a. Luke Skywalker, finds a career resurgence playing The Joker. Night Court’s Richard Moll, The Beastmaster Marc Singer, and Melissa Gilbert all bring 1980s nostalgia playing major characters. Bruce Wayne’s various love interests include Heather Locklear, comedian Julie Brown, and Supergirl Helen Slater. There are also appearances by future celebrities like Mad Men star Elisabeth Moss and Megan Mullally.
Superman
Similarly, this Man of Steel cartoon has a ton of television actors lending their voices. Superman is voiced by Wings star Tim Daly and Lois Lane is Desperate Housewives star Dana Delany. Sitcom stars Peri Gilpin, Brad Garett, and Joely Fisher all appear on the show.
Follow @Hollywood_com
//
Follow @AbsoluteCintron
//

DreamWorks
For the bulk of every Rocky and Bullwinkle episode, moose and squirrel would engage in high concept escapades that satirized geopolitics, contemporary cinema, and the very fabrics of the human condition. With all of that to work with, there's no excuse for why the pair and their Soviet nemeses haven't gotten a decent movie adaptation. But the ingenious Mr. Peabody and his faithful boy Sherman are another story, intercut between Rocky and Bullwinkle segments to teach kids brief history lessons and toss in a nearly lethal dose of puns. Their stories and relationship were much simpler, which means that bringing their shtick to the big screen would entail a lot more invention — always risky when you're dealing with precious material.
For the most part, Mr. Peabody &amp; Sherman handles the regeneration of its heroes aptly, allowing for emotionally substance in their unique father-son relationship and all the difficulties inherent therein. The story is no subtle metaphor for the difficulties surrounding gay adoption, with society decreeing that a dog, no matter how hyper-intelligent, cannot be a suitable father. The central plot has Peabody hosting a party for a disapproving child services agent and the parents of a young girl with whom 7-year-old Sherman had a schoolyard spat, all in order to prove himself a suitable dad. Of course, the WABAC comes into play when the tots take it for a spin, forcing Peabody to rush to their rescue.
Getting down to personals, we also see the left brain-heavy Peabody struggle with being father Sherman deserves. The bulk of the emotional marks are hit as we learn just how much Peabody cares for Sherman, and just how hard it has been to accept that his only family is growing up and changing.
DreamWorks
But more successful than the new is the film's handling of the old — the material that Peabody and Sherman purists will adore. They travel back in time via the WABAC Machine to Ancient Egypt, the Renaissance, and the Trojan War, and 18th Century France, explaining the cultural backdrop and historical significance of the settings and characters they happen upon, all with that irreverent (but no longer racist) flare that the old cartoons enjoyed. And oh... the puns.
Mr. Peabody &amp; Sherman is a f**king treasure trove of some of the most amazingly bad puns in recent cinema. This effort alone will leave you in awe.
The film does unravel in its final act, bringing the science-fiction of time travel a little too close to the forefront and dropping the ball on a good deal of its emotional groundwork. What seemed to be substantial building blocks do not pay off in the way we might, as scholars of animated family cinema, have anticipated, leaving the movie with an unfinished feeling.
But all in all, it's a bright, compassionate, reasonably educational, and occasionally funny if not altogether worthy tribute to an old favorite. And since we don't have our own WABAC machine to return to a time of regularly scheduled Peabody and Sherman cartoons, this will do okay for now.
If nothing else, it's worth your time for the puns.
3/5
Follow @Michael Arbeiter
//
| Follow @Hollywood_com
//

Title

Had title role of the Chicago stage production "King Hedley II"; peformed at the Goodman Theatre

Appeared in the superior horror film "The Hidden"

Had to turn down a role in Spike Lee's "Crooklyn" because of commitment to "Law & Order"; according to Brooks, one week later he was released from the role

Cast as a sergeant serving in Vietnam in "84 Charlie MoPic"

Feature film debut in "Teen Wolf"

Portrayed a villainous drug lord in "The Crow: City of Angels"

Offered a strong turn as the taciturn 'Babe Brother' in Charles Burnett's "To Sleep With Anger"

Had featured role in the ABC miniseries "The Wedding", directed by Charles Burnett

Returned to series TV as co-star of "GvsE" (USA Network, 1999; Sci-Fi Channel 1999-2000)

Debut as series regular, played assistant district attorney Paul Robinette in "Law & Order" (NBC)

First TV-movie, "With Intent to Kill" (CBS)

Co-starred in the Showtime miniseries "The Neon Empire", a fictionalized account of the transformation of Las Vegas from desert town to cosmopolitan showplace

Moved to NYC to study acting

Reprised role of Paul Robinette in one episode of "Law & Order"

Returned to Chicago's Goodman Theatre to star in "Drowning Crow", playwright Regina Taylor's reimagining of Chekhov's "The Seagull" set in the Gullah culture of South Carolina

Summary

While he shares his name with the late Oscar-winning screenwriter-director and a respected cinematographer, actor Richard Brooks has carved his own niche in show business. The handsome, African-American performer perhaps remains best-known for his three-year (1990-93) stint as assistant district attorney Paul Robinette on NBC's "Law & Order" despite a career that has encompassed stage and screen.

Name

Role

Comments

Education

Name

Interlochen Arts Academy

Circle in the Square Professional Theatre School

The Karamu House

Notes

"'Law [& Order]' was the real big transition I had to make. I had bought my first suit a few months [before 'Law & Order']. I was just a pretty boy living in Venice Beach at the time. So I had to really work back up the whole articulation and presentation of Robinette. I think that once I started playing Robinette, it was so convincing to people even in the industry that it became hard to get back into my shakedown kind of characters, who are, like, much more edgy and streetwise." --Richard Brooks, quoted in TIME OUT NEW YORK, July 15-22, 1999